ACTIVE AND PASSIVE SENTENCE.

ACTIVE AND PASSIVE SENTENCE

An active sentence or an active voice denotes that the subject of the sentence is the doer of an action. A passive sentence or a passive voice denotes that the doer of the action is not the subject of the sentence. The subject the receiver of the effect of an action. Active sentence is a sentence that needs object or transitive sentence passive sentence or passive voice occurs when object in active sentences functions as subject.

Compare the following sentence:

Active : Susy typed this letter yesterday.                    Active : My cat killed a mouse

Passive : This letter was typed by susy.                      Passive : A mouse was killed by my cat.

 Simple Present Tense

( subject + (am, are, is) + past participle

 1. - Active : He meets them everyday.

- Passive: They are meet by him everyday.

            2. – active : 

Ø  Present Continuous Tense

(subject + be (simple form) + being + past participle)

-          Active : He is meeting them now.

-          Passive : They are being met by him now.

-          Active : She is watering this plant now.

            -     Passive : This plant is being watered by her now

Ø  Passive Voice in Present Perfect Tense

(subject + has/have + been + past participle)

-          The meeting room has been prepared since this morning.

-          Has anton been invited to the meeting?

 

Ø  Simple Past Tense

(subject + (was/were) + past participle)

-          Active : He meet them yesterday.

-          Passive : They were meet by him yesterday.

-          Active : She watered this plant this morning.

-          Passive : This plant was watered by her this morning.

 

Ø  Past Continuous Tense

(subject + (was/were) + being + past participle)

-          Active : He was meeting them.

-          Passive : They were being met by him.

-          Active : She was watering this plant.

-          Passive : This plant was being watered by her.

Past Perfect Tense

(subject + had + been + past participle)

-          Active : He had meet them before I came.

-          Passive : They had been met by him before I came.

-          Active : She had watered this plant for 5 minutes when I got here.

-          Passive : This plant had been watered by her for 5 minutes when I got here. 

Simple future tense

-          Active : He will meet them tomorrow.

-          Passive : They will be met by him tomorrow.

-          Active : She will water this plant this afternoon.

-          Passive : This plant will be watered by her this afternoon.

Future perfect continous tense

-          Active : He will have been meeting them.

-          Passive : They will have been being met by him.

-          Active : She will have been  watering this plant.

-          Passive : This plant will have been being watered by her.

•  Pas future perfect continous tense

Would have been + being

-          Active : He would be meeting them.

-          Passive : They would be being met by him.

-          Active : She would be watering this plant.

-          Passive : This plant would be being watered by her.

 

Active/Passive

1.      Prefer active sentences.

2.      Use a passive sentence when you don’t know or don’t want to mention the actor

3.      Use a passive sentence when the receiver is more important than the actor.

4.      Use a passive sentence when you need to form a smooth transition from one sentence to the next.

5.      Do not use passive sentences to avoid using first person pronouns.

6.      Make sentence active by turning the clause or sentence arround.

7.      Make sentence active by changing the verb.

8.      Make sentences active by rethinking the sentence.